Phagocytosis: elegant complexity

Phagocytosis requires receptor-mediated recognition of particles, usually in the guise of infectious agents and apoptotic cells. Phagosomes fuse with lysosomes to generate phagolysosomes, which play a key role in enzymatic digestion of the internalized contents into component parts. Recent findings...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Immunity (Cambridge, Mass.) Mass.), 2005-05, Vol.22 (5), p.539-550
Main Authors: Stuart, Lynda M, Ezekowitz, R Alan B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Physiological
Animals
Antigen Presentation
Apoptosis
Autophagy
Biology
Carbohydrates
Humans
Immune system
Immunity, Innate
Insects
Lectins
Ligands
Mammals
Models, Immunological
Opsonin Proteins - immunology
Pattern recognition
Phagocytes - immunology
Phagocytes - microbiology
Phagocytes - physiology
Phagocytosis - immunology
Phagocytosis - physiology
Phagosomes - immunology
Phagosomes - physiology
Proteins
Receptors, Cell Surface - physiology
Signal Transduction
Yeast
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Summary:Phagocytosis requires receptor-mediated recognition of particles, usually in the guise of infectious agents and apoptotic cells. Phagosomes fuse with lysosomes to generate phagolysosomes, which play a key role in enzymatic digestion of the internalized contents into component parts. Recent findings indicate that a simple paradigm of a single cognate receptor interaction that guides the phagosome to phagolysosome formation belies the complexity of combinatorial receptor recognition and diversity of phagosome function. In fact, phagosomes are comprised of hundreds of proteins that play a key role in deciphering the contents of the phagosome and in defining host response. In this review we discuss how the challenge of recognizing diverse molecular patterns is met by combinatorial interactions between phagocytic receptors. Furthermore, these combinations are dynamic and both sculpt the balance between a proinflammatory or anti-inflammatory response and direct phagosome diversity. We also indicate an important role for genetically tractable model organisms in defining key components of this evolutionarily conserved process.
ISSN:1074-7613
1097-4180
DOI:10.1016/j.immuni.2005.05.002